Category: Environmental legislation

The UK and The EIA Directive

Summary

The EIA Directive was amended in 2014 to update it in line with some issues that have come to the forefront more recently in its 25 year existence. Those issues include climate change, resource efficiency, accident and disaster prevention and health. Additional changes were also made to secure delivery of monitoring and enforcement. If changes to

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Sustainability Appraisals: A Need for Change?

Summary

Earlier this year the Local Plan Expert Group (LPEG) proposed that the Sustainability Appraisal process be reduced to a single report that assess the submitted plan. The LPEG was established by the Government to look at improving the efficiency and efficacy of local plan making. At present, Sustainability Appraisal runs in parallel to the Local

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Brexit

Summary

While the government gets stuck into realigning their people, plans and policies in the wake of the EU referendum, we need to keep cool heads and remember that, for now, nothing has changed in terms of our obligations to the environment. Environmental law, whether that is derived from the EU or not, still stands and

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Good news for Green Infrastructure

Summary

The government has issued new specific guidance on Green Infrastructure (GI) as part of their National Planning Practice Guidance.  It’s been published to help with the implementation of the main national planning document, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) for England. The NPPF defines Green Infrastructure as a network of multi-functional green space, urban and

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Environment Agency publishes new Climate Change guidance for Flood Risk Assessments

Summary

The Environment Agency has in the last month published new guidelines on how Climate Change should be considered in Flood Risk Assessments. Consideration of potential climate change impacts on river flow, rainfall, sea level rise and wave heights is important to ensure that development is prepared for future conditions, and that the people who live

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Environmental Issues Continue to Move to the Mainstream

Summary

This week has seen environmental issues grabbing the headlines for a number of reasons. The talks in Paris are the latest attempts to thrash out a global deal to arrest greenhouse gas emissions, and the floods in Cumbria and elsewhere pose unanswerable questions around climate change, flood science, and investment of scarce financial resources.  

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Does the European Union work for the environment?

Summary

  It’s broadly acknowledged that for a body wielding so much power, we do not know or care enough about the European Union.  Our press is criticised for under-reporting and our public reprimanded for a lack of understanding. To do our bit towards bringing the issue to the forefront, we’ve pulled together some pros and

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